24H du Mans.
It's on Le Mans circuit in France on 19 / 22 september 2013 that took place the 5th round of ICGP championship.

General ranking - Race sheets

Le Mans under 2 strokes smoke one more time !


For the 5th round of the ICGP Championship the circus was back on the continent in France at Le Mans supporting the legendary 24hr race.
The paddock had to form early as the first qualifying was on Thursday afternoon. As usual space was at a premium as the ICGP competitors sought to establish themselves in the paddock.

Dry sunny conditions greeted the riders as they made their way out onto the Bugatti circuit for the first qualifying session. Within 1 lap there was mechanical trouble for Yves Hecq and Mark Linton and then both Andy Muggleton and Richard Peers-Jones seized their TZ350 Yamahas, fortunately without crashing. Not so fortunate was Steve Clark, returning to the ICGP scene after a year away, who crashed his TZ250 as a result of a faulty rear shock. Italian Michele Conti also struck trouble with his Kawasaki and didn’t record a time. At the sharp end it was business as usual as Ian Simpson topped the timesheets from frenchmen Guy Bertin and Bernaud Fau

There was much midnight oil burned as the riders tried their best to bring their broken TZ’s back to life ready for the second qualifying session on Friday afternoon.
Sleeping was quite difficult at Le Mans as this venue attracts the guys in the campsites with trailers of engines that are revved until they go bang, then it is onto the next one.

Dry conditions again prevailed for the second qualifying. Drama struck immediately with Ian Simpson tasting the French tarmac caught out with cold tyres. Then after about 6 laps the session was red flagged when Michele Conti crashed his Kawasaki. Alberto Peruzzi and Rocco Tedesco were involved in a nasty looking accident when Tedesco’s bike clipped the helmet of Peruzzi, luckily both escaped with minor injuries. Steve Clark had more bad luck and ran into engine problems on his trusty TZ250.

Michele Conti had already made amends for his previous days crash by putting his Kawasaki on pole followed by Ian Simpson and Guy Bertin. The second row was headed by in form Ant Hart from Mike Hose and Bernaud Fau.

Due to the time constraints of the 24hr race, there would be only one race which would count for double points early on Saturday morning so finishing here was all important.


For most of the ICGP riders the start time of 9am was way too early but nevertheless the sound and smell of the 2-strokes filled the air bright and early in the assembly area on Saturday morning.
As the lights went out local man Guy Bertin immediately took command of the race closely followed by Hose and Simpson. Bertin held onto the lead until the fourth lap when Hose made his mark and hit the front on Lea Gourlay’s TZ350. The pair swapped positions until lap 7 when the clutch on Bertin’s Kawasaki cried enough.

Ian Simpson had been watching the racing from third place when he decided it was his turn to lead the race and on lap 8 he made his intention clear. Mike Hose fought back and regained the lead on lap nine only for Simpson to take it back again on lap ten. Michele Conti overtook Hose on lap eleven but this was short lived as Hose got back to second again. As the flag dropped it was another win for Simpson with Hose two seconds back and Conti a further three seconds back. These three had pulled well clear of Ant Hart who had a misting visor but still got the better of Stephane Drye and Bernard Fau.

The attrition rate was high as Peter Thorne, Robert Burns and Yves Hecq did not go further than Lap 1. Chris Rose and Stefan Tennstadt collided at the chicane resulting in both riders going down with Rose escaping injury but Tennstadt suffering a broken collarbone. Leif Nielson, Bruno Lefrancois, Steve Clark and Alberto Peruzzi all went out on lap 2. Mark Linton made it till lap three and the luckless Dave Cooper went out on lap five.

The 250cc category was won clearly by Werner Reuberger from Vincent Levieux and the ever plucky Eric Saul who was racing again despite having some health problems. The Masters was won by Bernard Fau from Richard Peers-Jones and Eric Saul. The final round of the Championship takes the riders south to Motorland Aragon in Spain in four weeks time.

The 350cc Championship will be fought out in Spain between Mike Hose and Ian Simpson. The 250cc Championship will be contested between Werner Reuberger, Stefan Tennstadt and Marc Auboiron. The Masters will be settled between Richard Peers-Jones, Bernard Fau and Guy Bertin.

A great finale is in store with all three Championships to be decided at Aragon hopefully in dry warm conditions.

Sadly this report lacks any photos as our resident photographer Mandy Jordan has fallen down at home and broken her humerus bone in two places. Strangely, she doesn’t think it is funny, but she is hoping to take some one handed photos at Aragon.

350cc Race :

  1. Ian Simpson
  2. Mike Hose
  3. Michele Conti

250cc Race :

  1. Werner Reuberger
  2. Vincent Levieux
  3. Eric Saul

Master Race :

  1. Bernard Fau
  2. Richard Peers-Jones
  3. Eric Saul